01/08/04 13:20:15 Gov. Schwarzenegger, Members of the Education Coalition Announce Education Funding AgreementOFFICE
OF THE GOVERNORGAAS:09:04FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE01/08/2004Gov. Schwarzenegger, Members of the Education Coalition
Announce Education Funding AgreementGov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and members of the Education Coalition announced an education
funding agreement that will help alleviate the state's current fiscal emergency while protecting the integrity of Proposition
98 and increasing the per pupil funding from last year. The announcement was made today at a press conference at Sutter Middle
School in Sacramento.The historic agreement was negotiated between Gov. Schwarzenegger and members of the Education Coalition,
including the California Teachers Association, Parent-Teachers Association, California School Boards Association, California
Association of School Business Officials, Association of California School Administrators and California County Superintendents
Educational Services Association. The agreement would keep Proposition 98 structurally intact for future years while providing
$2 billion in budget relief for the 2004-05 fiscal year."When I was elected governor, I said I would change the way business
is done in Sacramento," said Gov. Schwarzenegger. "I am confident that this agreement will help us protect the long-term health
of our budget. It will allow us to deal with the deficit today, rather than putting every program at risk for years to come.
It will help us do what the people demand and deserve: real action and solving problems together. I want to thank our education
leaders for joining the fight to get our budget back on track."Highlights of the agreement include:* Per pupil funding
still increases year over year.* Funds deferred by the rebasing process will be restored in future years.* Trigger
provisions contained in Prop. 98 that allow the funding level to be rebased in a fiscal emergency. The measure was included
in Prop. 98 to relieve the budget burden in a fiscal crisis.* Increase year-over-year funding for education from the 2003-04
budget act to the 2004-05 proposed budget by $2 billion.In the state budget that will be released on Friday, Gov. Schwarzenegger
will keep his campaign promise that children are first in line for the state treasury."Education is the key to every future
success for our state," said Gov. Schwarzenegger. "This Prop. 98 funding will be restored as required by law and our agreement.
Today, I am making that promise to our teachers and students."